There is one thing about having cancer — you need never feel alone. Almost everyone you meet
has been touched by cancer, whether it is themselves or a loved one. Everyone has a battle story to tell.

The best part is that more and more people have tales of survival to tell. No one will deny that it is a struggle, but an increasing number are around to tell the tale.

My friend and neighbour Joan stopped by not long ago, flowers in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. We sat out on the back porch on a breezy, sunny afternoon and traded war stories. It was one of those days when it felt good to be alive.

Joan is about a year ahead of me in the process. Although we have different kinds of cancer (Joan had a particularly aggressive kind of breast cancer and I have colorectal cancer), as we traded stories about our surgeries, our treatments, and our mishaps and setbacks, I found we weren’t so very different.

We’re within months of each other in age — both 60 now — and we have daughters in their 20s. Our children went to school and Brownies together. We have walked our dogs together.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for either of us.

But there is no doubt it has been tougher for Joan than for me. My odds are pretty good and, as an old horse-racing fan, I am not afraid to play the odds. And although I have lost several centimetres of bowel, it is not something I consciously miss. The same can’t be said for Joan.

She talked about the anger, the fear — the sense of not being ready to die but the reality of looking it squarely in the face and accepting that as a possibility. It took some time to get there.

But she is alive and well. She is just back from a hiking trip to England and is a firm reminder that this, too, shall pass.

Paul Bredin has a tale of survival to tell, as well. His dad has survived colon cancer despite a very negative prognosis. It was a victory of will and positive attitude. Now Paul is determined to raise awareness and money for the Canadian Cancer Society.

On June 21, summer solstice, Paul and three friends — Sean McSweeney, Rolf Paloheimo and David O’Brien — ran from Barrie, Ont. City Hall south down Yonge St., the longest street in the world, to Queen’s Quay in Toronto. It was 100 kilometres of tough slogging.

This is the third year for the “Run with the Sun,” from sunrise to sunset, on the longest day of the year. The four do it because, like Paul, they have all been touched by cancer.

Cancer seems to bring out the courage and determination in people. Joan has talked about the changes she and her husband have made in their lives. Joan left a job that had become more grief than joy. Her husband has cut back on the number of hours he works and has made time for travelling with his wife. They have been reminded that you can’t put off until tomorrow because tomorrow may not be what you had planned. You don’t want to leave a life unlived.

Then there is the Run with the Sun. Paul could barely speak when he finished this year’s run.

But finish it he did. I’ll think of Paul and his buddies on a bad day in chemo, think about their struggle and their accomplishment and that they did it voluntarily to promote a cause they believe in.

Perspective is good.

To donate to Run with the Sun, go to www.runwiththesun.ca

TESSA WILMOTT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF